Because He Lied
by Devlyne
Summary: Post S02/E09. Eric remembers Godric and plots against Bill. Part 3 of 3.


A/N: Godric. Still not dead. And while I'm at it, let me tell you about this river I know of, in Egypt, called de Nile. This is the third and final installment in the 'Because' series. Originally meant to be between Sookie and Bill, it occurred to me that I was focusing on the wrong two characters. So yes, it's Bill and Eric with reflection upon Godric. For those wondering, I don't like Bill Compton. I find him creepy. I found him creepy when I first started watching True Blood. This season (Season 3) I started reading the books, now I find him even creepier.

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

_ e·ter·ni·ty /ɪˈtɜrnɪti/ [ih-tur-ni-tee] –noun, plural -ties. _

_ 1. infinite time; duration without beginning or end. _

_ 2. __eternal__ existence, __esp.__as__ contrasted__ with __mortal __life: __the __eternity __of __god__. _

_ 3. Theology . the timeless state into which the soul passes at a person's death. _

_ 4. an endless or seemingly endless period of time: We had to wait an eternity for the check to arrive. _

_5. eternities, the truths or realities of life and thought that are regarded as timeless or eternal._

**Because He Lied**

Eternity.

He had been promised an eternity of family, of friendship and brotherhood. One decade had dwindled into two, two into three, three into a century until one century bled past into the next. Eternity stretched out between them until the line between one and the other blended and was lost. In Eric's mind they had ceased to be separate beings and had become one and the same. It much reminded Eric of a story that Godric had told once of a God named Janus, gifted with the sight of the future and the knowledge of the past. Eric had always been future to Godric's extensive past. In one moment the years of faith and love had been stripped away completely leaving only a gaping hole which Eric could not fill. He had lost a part of himself on the roof that morning.

Sookie's comfort had been received, appreciated, but even this small yield to him would not fill the gap that Godric had left gaping in his life. Her fingertips had left warm trails across his cheeks but once the warmth was gone only unbearable cold remained. Nothing would take that away now and Eric was not even certain that time could ease it. Godric had promised him eternity but had left him to see it on his own. This human too, with her warm caresses, her tender, caring nature, would pass into oblivion in the mere blink of his eye. Time was so short and yet so long to those who did not die. One more loss to remember, one more face to forget, and a lonely eternity stretching out before him.

Pam had been all too good about the news of Godric's passing. She had been both helpful and consoling, while keeping away from him, giving space to her Maker; her friend. Had he promised her eternity, as Godric had promised him? Eric had searched his memory over and again, but could not recall his exact words to her. Perhaps he had made that promise and Eric always kept his promises. He wondered, in these reflections, if Pam mourned for Godric the way he did. Maybe not in intensity, but with any small part of herself. In the end, Eric did not have the courage to ask. He did not want to know, preferred to believe that she did.

Strangely, it had been these reflections which had brought him to his current state of irritation. Bill Compton was the most disrespectful, annoying creature that Eric had had the displeasure to run across in well over a thousand years. And that was saying something. Again and again the man intruded upon his reflections of that last evening with Godric. The fire in his eyes as he'd landed that one allowed blow, the way he had moved to block Eric from going after his Maker, had not seemed to care. Perhaps if he had had those few precious moments, those minutes that Bill had taken from him, Eric could have found the words to talk Godric down from the roof. It was futile to be grasping at straws like this, but that part of him buried deep within gave in to the scrabbling claws of doubt.

All of that had planted a seed in Eric's brain. He found himself pulling files, re-reading what he knew about Bill Compton and his association with Sophie Anne. It was all very above board, very boring considering it was the contrasting life of a man who made Louis and Lestat look almost normal. Perhaps he could 'dig up' this Louis and send him to Vampires Anonymous meetings with Bill. Maybe they would walk into the sun together and he would be rid of the tiresome nuisance; Lestat, had he been real, would no doubt have thanked him for the effort. A flip of the page, turning to the next in Bill's file, reading the neat script. These days most of the files were online, but there was something about owning a hard copy that was refreshing, to say the least.

Refreshing because there was no file to erase, no data online to alter. No, here it was in black and white, signed by Bill Compton's hand. A loose strand of his ever shortening hair was pushed back, eyes flickering across page after page. There was one thing that Eric was very certain of; Bill Compton had lied. Even at it's very base, no vampire's existence could be quite this mundane. True, he had been on that killing spree with Lorena for a hundred years or so, but after that, to just...give it all up? Forty years with Sophie Anne as a procurer, and then he had taken a sabbatical to Bon Temps, Louisiana? No, there was something more, something that was not here before him on these pages; Something Eric could not quite put his finger on. After all, what Queen in her right mind would allow her best procurer to take a sabbatical?

Procurer. Unless, the Queen was intending to procure something slightly beyond her reach. It was not a terribly far leap. Bill had moved awfully fast on that human of his. _Sookie, _his mind reminded him sharply. And his continued reluctance to put her 'talent' to good use. His continued reluctance for it to get about that Sookie was a telepath, that she was something more than human. Eric did not know of course, could not at the moment produce evidence enough to voice these suspicions. And for that matter, who would he voice them to? It seemed his Queen had overstepped him in this matter if she had indeed sent Bill Compton into his domain.

One thing was very certain, Bill Compton constituted a threat. Threats must be dealt with swiftly and immediately, with no remorse, no falter. _Sookie. _Therein lay the rub. Sookie Stackhouse was a valuable commodity. _Person. You like her. _He did not like humans. Wasn't that what he'd told Isabel in Dallas? That was before. Before she had stepped forward to help him fill that gaping hole in his chest. Before she'd stood by Godric in his final moments. _You owe her._ He owed her. He owed her for staying by Godric and for staying by him. He owed her for being the embodiment of Godric's last lesson to him. Godric had promised him eternity and had left him, but there were tokens he had left behind. Bill Compton was a threat to Godric's legacy.

Because as certain as Eric was of ever so many things. And as uncertain as he was of ever so many more. He was entirely sure of one thing. Bill Compton was going to do harm to Sookie Stackhouse; emotionally, perhaps physically.

Because he lied.


End file.
